The Prodigal Son
Episode 5 of Season 3 of War. Enjoy! The Prodigal Son Adderscar looks no worse for wear, considering he's apparently spent the last quarter moon in FireClan. He's filled out a little and his eyes have a shadow over them I'm getting accustomed to seeing, but he's still the long, kind of nerdy tom I remember. He takes my stunned silence at its worth. "Here to drag me back kicking and screaming? I'm surprised- it's been a quarter moon. Waterstar shouldn't let her smartest warrior get away." "Oh, you're not the smartest anymore. Someone up at the Academy did some tests and he ranks you as second." Adderscar's left eye twitches. "Kidding!" I admit, forcing a purr. "I lost a bet to Oakclaw and he made me promise that if I found you, that would be the first thing I'd say. I also promised to smack you, but if we're pretending to be mates, that might not work out." Adderscar preens for a moment, then narrows his eyes. "So what are you doing here?" I blink. "You haven't heard?" he shakes his head and I bask for a moment in the fact I know something our resident genius doesn't. "Firestar wants to start peace treaties with Waterstar. They're ending the war." Adderscar snorts. "Dirt." I purr, not faking it this time. Adderscar and I were never close, but it's refreshing to hear his brutally honest voice again. "Briarclaw said it seemed legit, but I knew." "Briarclaw?" "One of the new recruits," I meow carefully. "My replacement," he nods, "And I'm guessing Waterstar didn't do so great replacing me." "You could fix that," I meow, meeting his eye. He looks away. "I'm not coming back. I have things to do." "Look, I know you're hurting. But we can either talk about it here or inside FireClan territory." "Procrastination makes the heart grow fonder," he says lightly, moving forward in the line." "That's not the saying," I grumble, following. "And that is why I am willing to let you pretend to be my mate." Gorsefur stepped out of the den. In three steps, he was soaked to the bone. Main was pretty no matter what, but rain made is almost threatening. The river roared and though he knew they were safe from flooding, he felt awed. He peered through the fat drops, trying to avoid getting anything in his eyes. A shape materialized and Oakclaw's broad form appeared. His usually brilliant fur had turned a dull shade of tan and it was plastered to his flanks. "If it never rains again it'll be too soon," he called, to be heard over the river. "Tell me about it. What happened at the meeting?" "Firestar's going home to conference. It got called off early because of the weather, but mostly it was just a lot of arguing about losses and who deserves what territory." "That's it?" Gorsefur couldn't help but snap. Oakclaw blinked water out of his eyes. "Sorry, I just...does this have to do with Brookfall?" Gorsefur's claws unsheathed, clutching the muddy earth. "No." Oakclaw sighed. "That's all that happened Gorsefur. I'm sorry." "Are they leaving yet?" Oakclaw shook his head. "They were talking when I left. They might be leaving now." Gorsefur nodded and got to his paws. "Oh, where do you think you're going?" Oakclaw glared. "A walk." "Fine, I'll come with you. You need back-up." Gorsefur didn't want to hurt his friend, but he didn't want Oakclaw tagging along. "Like you were back-up for Shadowsong? How'd that end up? I recall some idiot getting taken hostage." Oakclaw reeled back and his eyes narrowed. "Still coming." "I also recall someone getting almost choked to death because said idiot got taken hostage and someone had to go rescue his sorry tail." Oakclaw gave Gorsefur a look and Gorsefur sighed. "Fine." "Great!" Oakclaw spit out some water. "Let's go before I drown." "Names?" the guard radiates disinterest. I could probably tell him my real name and he'd never remember. Adderscar opens his mouth only for one of the other guards to interrupt. She gapes at us for a moment, then hurries to say, "Swiftstorm! Dustflower!" Adderscar halts, then nods. "Yes?" The guard seems to be tripping over her words. "What an honor! We thought you were due in a week. How was your vacation in EarthClan?" "Well enough. Not as nice as home though. There were bandits on the border, so we decided to come home early. Snuck through AirClan." The guard nods, looking as though her kit just killed a badger single-handedly. "Clever! Your uncle is still in WaterClan, but he should be back at the end of the day. He wasn't expecting you, you see, but we can pull together an escort and he'll meet you-" "That will be fine," Adderscar sounds strained and I nod, trying not to put all the pressure on him. "It's really no trouble-" "It's fine." I meow. "But thank you." The guard nods and waves us through. I wait until we've entered the forest to ask the question. "Why would we- Swiftstorm and Dustflower, I mean- need an escort?" Adderscar sits, looking stunned. "Our uncle is in WaterClan...for the treaties...they mistook us for some very important cats." I smack him. "Talk to me!" He looks up at me with wide green eyes. "They think we're Firestar's niece and nephew." The FireClan cats were just leaving Main when Oakclaw and Gorsefur caught up with them. They hung back, but as soon as the cats entered foliage, they took positions closer and listened in. The soldiers were silent, but Firestar was talking with someone. Gorsefur couldn't get closer because the warriors were so vigilant. He caught snippets, but no more. "...tell him...plan...conference...nothing." Gorsefur almost let out a sigh of annoyance, but he managed to cage it. Oakclaw shot him a look and rolled his eyes. There was silence for what felt like forever until Firestar meowed. "Crossing the border." There were muted cheers from the group and Gorsefur felt a pang. They were like WaterClan cats. Almost. The memories of FireClan prison, claws pressed to Oakclaw's throat, Silverflower's blood spraying the clearing. Those were too fresh. Gorsefur paused at the border and Oakclaw, behind him, did the same. "Firestar!" they heard an aid call. "Your niece and nephew have arrived early from EarthClan, they're heading to Main now." There was a chorus of hushes from the warriors and one of the muttered, "We could've been tailed, wait til we get to the forest." But Gorsefur had heard enough. He signaled Oakclaw and they melted back into the forest. The trek to Main wasn't long, but FireClan terrain was rocky and unfriendly. "So," I meow, "Can we stop procrastinating? Where have you been?" I doubt he'll answer but he does. "FireClan. I came in a day or two after...after it went down. I was looking for a spy to connect to, try and take down FireClan from the inside. I was tired of getting orders and carrying them out, neatly packaging things up. I wanted to-" he stopped, sighing. "How'd you get kicked out?" His ear flicks. "There was...this she-cat. She had this huge scar covering half her face and this tom came up, slurring. Definitely on catmint or something. So he comes up to her and she starts backing up, afraid. He wouldn't leave her alone, so I got...involved." "Oh, Adderscar..." He looks at the ground. "How about you? Trouble in paradise?" I fill him in, leaving out all the personal bits. Adderscar and I are friends, but not that close. I tell him about the recruits- Stormflight's brooding arrogance, Grayleaf's adorableness, Briarclaw's annoying habits. I tell him about Thundercloud and Oakclaw and Shadowsong's apparent problems. Me getting a rat bite, Oakclaw getting called for guard duty. Adderscar listens, not really reacting until I decide to talk about her funeral. "It was...nice. She would've thought it was drab, but..." He nods and I look away. FireClan Main rises in front of us and Adderscar exhales shortly through his nose. "So what's the plan?" I ask, "Keep up the charade or sneak off?" He opens his jaws but is interrupted. "Dustflower? Swiftstorm?" We looks up to see a jolly looking, kind of pudgy old elder. "I'm here to escort you," Adderscar nods, eyes unfathomable. We silently follow the tom who prattles on about useless things. I know Adderscar is listening intently, but I allow myself to drift. Before I know it, we've stopped at a den. Not Firestar's den, but a nice one. Some general maybe. "You can brief him and then go to your uncle's den. He'll be back shortly." the tom nods and we nod back. He leaves us alone and I lead, into the den. Inside, a single tom sits. Someone has crudely traced the borders between territories onto the dirt floor. There are a few marks and I don't waste time trying to decipher them. The tom looks up as we enter and Adderscar stiffens beside me. My eyes widen and I remind myself how things can always be worse then they are. Badgerstrike stares back at us. "Why would he send his family to EarthClan? During the treaties?" Gorsefur asked. "Maybe in case things went bad?" Oakclaw wasn't the smartest in the squad, but he definitely wasn't stupid and Gorsefur found himself enjoying bouncing ideas off of each other. "But why EarthClan? AirClan would be better- they actually share a border with FireClan and they're so peaceful it'd be a win-win." "EarthClan shares a border with WaterClan..." Oakclaw pointed out slowly. That fact hadn't escaped Gorsefur. But he wasn't quite ready to go down that path yet. "Why his nieces and nephews then?" Gorsefur was frustrated. Something was here, they just didn't see it. "Why not a professional?" "Well..." Oakclaw seems stumped. "Maybe his family wouldn't be hassled?" "They'd be easier to spot though." Gorsefur murmured. "My head hurts," Oakclaw let it fall on his paws, playing dead. Gorsefur's whiskers twitched. "Let's go eat, we can think about it later." Suddenly deciding he was content to live, Oakclaw popped to his paws and led the way back towards Main. Had it been anyone else- Oakclaw or Shadowsong or even Gorsefur- I probably would've tackled them to make sure they didn't do anything stupid. But this is Adderscar. Stupid is not in his crazy big vocabulary. "Adderscar, Brookfall," Badgerstrike breathes. "They told me-" "Apparently all ginger toms and brown she-cats match the same description," Adderscar snarls. "Where's the others?" Badgerstrike asks. "Gorsefur...Shadowsong, Oakclaw, Silverflower? Are they-" With a yowl, Adderscar leaps at his mentor. I try to intercept, but he ducks and manages to claw Badgerstrike before I grab his scruff, yanking him away. "Don't you say her name," he whispers. "Don't." Badgerstrike blinks. "Silverflower? Why? Is she okay?" He doesn't know. "She's dead." I meow softly. "Not dead," Adderscar says poisonously. "She turned around to try and warn you. To get you out of the clearing. But you had already decided, hadn't you?" he turns to me. "That's what you told me. You said she died a hero. But she didn't," he spits. "She died for nothing." Badgerstrike takes a few steps back, his eyes on Adderscar. "No...no one was supposed to die." "How long are you going to go on deluding yourself?" Adderscar explodes. "How long are you going to assume the apprentice you were best friends with still lives inside that monster? You want to belong, but you don't belong anywhere and you destroyed the cats who tried to help you." Badgerstrike shakes his head. "No..." I watch the exchange, feeling helpless. "You're living a fantasy!" Adderscar yells. Badgerstrike shakes his head and I realize how unhappy he looks. Guilty now, too. "Adderscar, don't bother," I meow, my voice dead of emotion. He looks at me, chest heaving, his eyes clouded with fury and sadness. "This isn't the commander that betrayed us. This is...a shell. The broken pieces. He's not worth it." I head for the exit, then pause. "If Firestar finds out we were here, he'll hunt us down and kill us. So I'd keep quiet." Adderscar follows me out, looking torn, but regaining control of himself. Badgerstrike looks at the ground, then closes his eyes. When Gorsefur got back to the camp with Oakclaw, the others were awake. Shadowsong sat outside the den, looking like a mother catching her kits returning from a trip outside of camp. "Hey," they meowed sheepishly. "A mission came in while you were gone," she told them. "I took it, so I guess this makes me second?" Oakclaw yelped with mock hurt and her whiskers twitched. "Someone has to take the recruits out to the Silver Forest to badger some badgers." Gorsefur groaned. It was a time honored tradition and an easy way to keep the forest in WaterClan free of pests. "I have to guard, I can't do it." Oakclaw said instantly. "Hey, do you think Brookfall's hiding so she doesn't get stuck with it?" Shadowsong narrowed her eyes at Gorsefur. "You know how we're best friends right?" "Nice try," he smirked. "This can celebrate your becoming second." She grumbled and Oakclaw laughed. "I can't believe it..." I murmur. "What?" "That he didn't know." I stop, thinking. "About Silverflower." "Firestar didn't want him to get all huffy and take off." "But why?" I frowned. "He obviously didn't care much about their friendship, since Silverflower was killed. So it can't be he just wanted him to stay for the conversation." "You think he needed to know something?" Adderscar's eyes are on mine, lit up. "Exactly. Something he didn't think Badgerstrike would be forced to give up if he was, say, a prisoner or something. Something he needed to be close to get. He needed to convince Badgerstrike to do something against WaterClan." "But what?" "Excuse me?" We look up to see a dapper old white tom regarding us. "A word?" I nod, not thinking. The tom turns and walks away and, after a look to Adderscar, I follow. The tom leads us through the twists and turns of FireClan Main at a pace I wouldn't expect from an elder. The larger dens turn smaller and I realize we've passed into the residential area. The tom stops at a nondescript den and pads inside. Nothing is inside and it's fortified as the others are, with thistles and thorns. The tom heads for the back of the den and begins pulling away the briars. He does it with surprising ease and the den opens up. A hole is revealed, sloping downward. "A tunnel?" Adderscar meows. I can practically see him putting this in his mind, thinking of all the advantages The tom nods, "Inside please." We head inside and he follows, yanking the briars to cover our trail. We pad in darkness for what seems like ages and I begin to feel claustrophobic when it finally opens up. A large cave is revealed, lit by a hole in the ceiling. I imagine all the dirt and stone on top of us and suddenly find it a little hard to breath. Adderscar sense it and meows, "If we were to die by being crushed to death, it would be relatively painless and quick. Of course, that's not likely to happen." Thanks, I feel so much better. The elder passes in front of us and purrs. "Now, I know you two aren't Firestar's relatives, because you'd have been stupid to follow me. So who are you?" "Who are you?" I retort. The tom throws back his head and laughs. "You can come out," he calls into the cave. "We have some friendlies." "Beginners mistake," Adderscar comforts me. "You were too defensive." I ignore him because cats are peeling off the walls, coming into the light. Their pelts range from fire red to the bluest of blues. There are only half a dozen or so, but they look at me with such ferocity I feel inclined to run off. "You've managed to find the WaterClan spies," the tom meows proudly. "So, I suppose the question is, Brookfall and Adderscar, what can we do for you? Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics